Belgrade's Battle of the Bands to support music programs

BELGRADE, Mont. – This weekend, the Belgrade High School auditorium will host the Battle of the Bands, a fundraising event featuring young bands from Belgrade, Bozeman, Billings, Livingston, and Montana State University. The event aims to bring the community together and raise money for local schools to support music programs.

Event organizer Jessica Van Garderen spoke about the importance of fundraising for these programs. "We provide quite a bit of money to the music programs. Our music program has been growing quite a bit over the last few years.



And so we fill in all the gaps that the school budget doesn't pay for," Van Garderen said. Several bands performing this weekend shared their excitement about the event. The band Icarus mentioned their eagerness to perform in Belgrade.

"We are excited to branch out and playing at the places I think. I don't think we've ever played in Belgrade before. So it's awesome to see familiar faces, but also share our music with people who maybe haven't heard us before," they said.

Another band, Slate, emphasized the positive impact the event has had on the community. "We've always not had, like, the greatest time with being able to actually put music out there in our school and, and it's been really difficult. But this, this particular, event the last three years has put a lot of effort and money and like just time putting the community together to get so much more involved with the music programs at Belgrade," they stated.

Meridian, another participating band, highlighted the event's role in supporting local artists. "It really gets to, you know, promote the local artists and musicians and really get them on a stage and give them an audience and, like, show some support for the local music," they said. For those interested in purchasing tickets and supporting the cause, they are available at panthermusic.

net/event/botb ..